Tidebreak software: The basics

Tidebreak’s products enhance collaboration, giving you a set of advanced tools that
help you get the most out of working together.

Using Tidebreak’s software, you can:

Work together on a public computer

Your computer is your personal space — don’t show it to the entire room. Tidebreak’s software
makes a public computer the common workspace for the group, functioning like an extended desktop to
each laptop. Everyone can be working on this “public desktop” at the same time, which means that no
one person is stuck doing all the work.

Share content with a simple drag & drop

Instead of dictating URLs across the table, just drag and drop them. Send documents,
folders and URLs directly from one computer to another in just seconds.

Show your screen interactively

Sometimes you need to show your desktop, such as when you want to show others an application
that is only installed on your computer. Tidebreak lets you show your screen and selectively allow
someone to “drive” it temporarily. Instantly. And there’s no need to plug in drop cables.

Access the real-time session archive

Tidebreak’s products automatically collect information about files, folders, websites and typed comments your
group shares. In some cases, it can also capture a record of what you’ve written on a physical
whiteboard.

Explore the Possiblities

Download the Tidebreak client software directly from the TeamSpot or ClassSpot public computer by pointing your browser
at the computer’s URL. Install the Tidebreak client software, then connect to the public computer to access these features.

Slide your cursor onto the Public screen

In Tidebreak-enabled environments, you can work together on the “Public” computer (the big screen) where everyone can see
what is happening. To control the Public computer, simply move your cursor up to the top of
your laptop screen, and then keep going. The cursor will “jump” up to the public computer, as if it’s an extension
of your desktop. Now you’re controlling it from your laptop, without having to share a keyboard or plug in any cables.
Want to get back to your laptop? Just move the mouse off the bottom of the Public screen. If there is more than one
Public computer, you can move between them by sliding the cursor off the left or right edge of the screens.

Discover a faster way to share content with others

Simply drag a file icon or a web address to the TeamSpot or ClassSpot Participants list and drop it on one of the participants.
Send an item to everyone simultaneously by dropping it on “All Participants.”

Copy and paste text between computers

When you “cut” or “copy” text from your computer, Tidebreak’s TeamSpot software stores the text in a shared group clipboard.
Anyone connected to the TeamSpot can then immediately paste a copy of that text on another computer. You can also slide
your cursor to a Public screen and paste the text yourself. (This feature is not available in ClassSpot for security reasons.)

Access shared content from the real-time session archive

Avoid dictating URLs to each other or copying them down to reference later. Any time you send URLs or files to
someone in your session, a record is saved in the session archive. You can view the archive at any time
during the session to revisit links or files that were shared earlier. You can also send a file directly to the
archive, where other group members can easily download it. And you can take it with you after the meeting; just
click “Save Archive” to download a copy of the session archive to your laptop.

Place a comment in the archive

Insert a brief text note to the archive that can be a reference to other content or simple action items. Add a discussion
comment, record a question, or mark a point in the session for future reference.

Interactively share your computer’s desktop

Show your computer desktop on another screen to make it temporarily “public” when you are running unique content that
can’t be shared in one of the primary interaction modes. Simply choose a target computer and select the “Show”
(view only) or “Share” (interactive) mode. The Show mode allows you to wirelessly display your desktop on a Public
screen while others watch passively. The Share mode lets you show your desktop on a Public screen and allow others
to work on it interactively.

Do Your Best Collaborative Work

Working collaboratively doesn’t have to be painful. Tidebreak’s software
provides new ways to work that eliminate familiar problems that appear when
groups try to work together. See how it fixes these common complaints:

“I end up doing all the work.”

Eliminate “slacking.” Everyone contributes directly on the
shared public computer. In fact, every person can have their individualized cursor on
the public computer at the same time so they can jump in to take control as soon as they
are ready to share an idea or contribute somehow. Instead of shouting out instructions
to someone else to modify a document, you can simply move your cursor onto the public computer
and make the changes yourself.

“I don’t get anything out of working in a group.”

Collaboration is all about sharing ideas and working together to create acceptable solutions.
Using Tidebreak’s software, each person can contribute to the group’s understanding and thus promote
shared solutions that everyone can accept and support.

“Team projects take a lot more time.”

Divide and conquer your project tasks. Tidebreak’s software helps you build content
and share information without slowing you down. No need to wait while
one person types something up; use your own laptop to work ahead on some
aspect of the project. When you’re ready to share it with the group, you
can send the file to the public screen, or copy text from your laptop
and paste it into the team’s document on the public screen.

“It’s so hard to resolve issues by email.”

Spend 5 minutes talking together to wrestle with ideas instead of
sending a series of 44 emails. Discuss issues and make decisions as you
go so that everyone stays aligned. Since the work happens on the big
public screen, everyone can see exactly what has been
done and offer opinions about changing the content.

“I didn’t get the final draft until too late.”

Don’t leave anyone out. Make it easy to engage the entire team
every step of the way so that the final result reflects everyone’s
ideas instead of just the last person to edit the documents.